Earlier this month Illinois’ top official disputed the separation of powers doctrine.

Governor Rauner admitted that his program includes plans to use the executive branch as part of his campaign against the Labor Relations Act. This fascism must not be allowed to pass!

The governor’s declared idea is to withhold collected union dues from union officials.

His program of applying administrative measures to stop enforcement of the Labor Relations Act is fraudulent in the first place because, as the governor was informed during grade school, his legislative powers are limited to recommending and vetoing legislation. Even if he wishes to allege misconduct on the part of a previous General Assembly he still cannot act through the executive to break the law.

And when a governor can refuse to enforce one law he does not like then he can easily refuse to enforce more than one law he does not like. Today, the Labor Relations Act, tomorrow the Civil Rights Act, the next day the School Code, etc., etc., so forth.

Rauner also threatened to call on the federal courts to intervene in his dispute with the Illinois legislature. It should not have to be mentioned, but joining the decision-making powers of the legislative and the judicial branches is a power expressly prohibited in both the Illinois and the U.S. constitutions.

The separation of powers that Rauner is so eager to throw out the window was defended by Charles Louis de Secondat all the way back in 1748: “When the legislative and the executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty. Again, there is no liberty if the power of judging is not separated from legislative and subject would be exposed to arbitrary control; for the judge would then be the legislator. If it were joined to the executive power, the judge might behave with violence and oppression. There would be an end to everything, if the same man, or the same body, whether of the nobles or the people were to exercise those three powers, that of enacting laws, that of executing public affairs, and that of trying crimes or individual cases.”

How could this have come up?

The problem is that the Democratic and Republican parties, which have a monopoly over the electoral process, are both bought-and-paid-for by the big capitalists. Their campaigns are far more concerned with raising money than involving people in any serious discussion over the issues. And no wonder. For several years now, the Democrats and Republicans have joined together in attacking the people – slashing vital social programs while putting all our resources at the disposal of big business, militarizing the country and launching new wars – in short, arbitrarily imposing the dictate of big business over the whole country.

In order to break the monopoly of the Republicans and Democrats we must speak our own minds and build our own independent political movement.

The conditions for a truly mass, independent working class and popular movement exist. To begin with, the people are not allowing Rauner’s dangerous medieval antics to pass. Already huge numbers of people are coming out to participate in protests and demonstrations. Furthermore, people are thoroughly fed up with the Democrats and Republicans.

What is more, people are turning towards independent action and these actions are assuming an increasingly political character. People readily see that the Democratic and Republican parties only offer more poverty and exploitation, more racism, war and repression.

In areas where our Party has concentrated its work, our experience is that broad sections of people are enthusiastic about the independent program of economic rights, democratic renewal, a democratic foreign policy and socialism and that many people are actively joining in the work. People are eager to participate in putting forward a positive program of solutions to the various economic and social problems. Our experience is that people are eager to assist with distributing The Worker and building up its distribution networks as part of the organized and conscious movement of the working class.

The Party’s experience is that only by bringing revolutionary politics – the Marxist-Leninist politics of emancipation – to the people can we break the stranglehold of bourgeois politics and release the people’s initiative. Nothing new will come about in our country until the tens and hundreds of millions of people currently excluded from politics come into the political arena.

In the course of mobilizing the masses of people, the party also works diligently for unity in action amongst all forces willing, to whatever extent, to come out in defense of the rights of the people.

Unity in action is a principle for the Party and the working class because this is the only way to defend the interests of the people. Unity in action is necessary not only to maximize the immediate struggles of the people but also to create new space and assist the workers to organize themselves and gain experience in the class struggle.

The Workers Party calls to all the people:

Don’t let the rich push us to the sidelines and monopolize the political affairs of our country. We say: Get organized and develop our own independent political movement. There are many ways to develop this movement and this struggle.

– To begin with, denounce the political parties of the rich and their reactionary agenda of slashing social investments, preparing for war and lording it over the people.

– Let us step up our mass struggles both to resist the attacks of the capitalists and to assert our own independent agenda based on the program of economic rights, democratic renewal, and a democratic foreign policy.

– Let us put forward our own vision for a society and government run by and for the working class and people themselves.

Real politics concerns the relationship of the various classes and sections of the population to the political power. Real politics for the working class and people can only mean developing our own independent movement with the aim of gaining the political power for ourselves. Developing such an independent movement is the way to end our marginalization in the political life of the country and for the workers and people to become the active and leading force guiding our country forward.